So far, Kazuya Hiraide and Kenro Nakajima haven’t shared much information about the new route they’ve opened on the north face of 7,708m Tirich Mir in Pakistan. But at least we now know the line they followed:
The new route up the north face of Tirich Mir. Photo: Ishii sports
Hiraide revealed that the difficulties started long before they stuck their crampon points on the face.
“The north face was surrounded by a fortress,” Hiraide wrote, referring to the huge, broken glacier that formed an icefall blocking the valley. It had kept the face not only unclimbed but also unexplored.
“In order to reach the base, I climbed a 6,200m col from an unknown valley, and then descended the same valley again and finally stood at the starting line,” Hiraide wrote. “I love exploratory climbing like this!”
Nakajima explained that crossing the icefall would have been too dangerous. The pair thus had to find that detour to the 6,200m col, which took them two extra days.
The broken glacier at the base of the north side of Tirich Mir. Photo: Ishii Sports
Nakajima also mentioned that drones filmed their ascent, so we may know more about their climb once they release the video.
Tirich Mir is the highest mountain in the Hindu Kush.
